Sunday, July 2, 2006

Travel to Valencia California

We reluctantly left our camp at Big Lake on Thur. morning and drove down out of the cool mountains into the hot desert. We purchased fuel and had lunch in Winslow and stopped for the night in Williams, AZ. As busy as I40 is, there are very few choices for RV parks along it's route through Northern Arizona. There are three parks in Williams and all are very expensive and crummy. They are basically parking lots where rigs are packed side by side.

When we arrived in Williams it was raining gently. It was actually cold and that was a nice surprise. After dinner we went into town where they have a nightly show on the main street. It is a very amature gunfight kind of thing, but the kids enjoyed it.

Friday we drove down out of the high country, across the Colorado River and into California at Needles. The themometer on the truck showed it was 108 and the temperature never dropped below 102 as we continued west to Barstow and then north on Hwy 58. We thought about just finding a place in the desert somewhere to spend the night with the generator running to keep the A/C going all night but decided to check out an RV park in Boron that was listed in our Passport America Camping Club directory. It turned out to be fine, but certainly no resort. We got full hookups, including 50 amp electric service for $10. That's a good deal! We will save the annual cost of Passport America in about 3 more stays at their parks.

We drove through Mojave, Palmdale and Lancaster Saturday morning on our way to Valencia. As we descended the mountains on Hwy 14 the traffic really began to build and we could tell we were in Southern California again. Our truck handles the trailer so well that it was not a problem at all, but I still hate the traffic.

We arrived at Valencia Travel Village where we spent 18 months a few years ago. They had our reserved spot which is only long enough for the trailer alone. We have to park the truck about 50 yards away in a parking area. We got everything set up and let the kids go swimming. They love the huge pools here.

We went into Granada Hills to see Dianna's parents and spent the late afternoon and evening with them. Julie came over too and we all went out to dinner at Coco's. After returning around 9:00 the kids had to go swimming again until the pool closed at 10:00.

This morning I got the satellite set up and we are back online for the next month of our stay here. I'll let Dianna update you on her parents and 90th birthday plans for her Dad.

3 comments:

We left Denton Thursday, June 11th and I had to pick up the girls from the groomers and then meet up with Wayne at the mall across from Camping World. Well a pantry door came open while he was heading to Denton and broke completely in half.I caught up with him and we took the pantry drawers out and laid them under the bed where it slides in.Finally left and headed for Amarillo.Spent the night at the welcome center across from the Flying J.NExt morning went to Lowes and bought locks for the drawers that slide into the side and put the drawers back.Spent 2 days in Santa Fe and then one on top of a mountain in northern New Mexico southeast of Chama.Arrived in South Fork the next day and have been busy ever since.Weather is wonderful.Never over 80 and upper 40's and 50s at night.Great sleeping weather.Had the door repaired in Alamosa and they also made 2 new doors for the cabinet where the tv in the bedroom used to be.Wonderful work, can not see the crack in the door.Isn't retirement great and isnt it wonderful not being on any particular schedule.Diana, hope your Dad does not have Ahlzeimers.My Mother is kind of holding her own.How long will you be in California? If you get close to southern California let us know.We got a land line because Cingular and Tmobile are not very good up here. Verizon seems to be the best.Our phone number is 719-873-5711.Take care of yourselves and enjoy every minute of the day.